Meet NEXA Music Top 24 Artist: Mojo Bombay

Mumbai pop rock band Mojo Bombay’s story is probably one we’re all familiar with–a group of friends begin working on something for fun before realizing that they just may be onto something. “We were just a set of friends, and friends of friends who met in Mumbai and started jamming together our favourite songs,” recalls guitarist Anshuman Mukherjee. “The few jam sessions became many, and we started writing our own music. Each of us had a day job, but kept waiting to meet in the evenings, and write and record our songs till wee hours of the night. Within no time we had a bunch of songs to go live with, and we landed our first gig.”

Comprising Mukherjee, bassist Sourya Bhattacharya, drummer Dhiman Dutta, lead guitarist Nikhil Vernekar and vocalist Prakhar Gaharwar, Mojo Bombay was born of a love for music and the shared dream of making music for their rest of their lives. “All we needed was a name for the band. Mojo was what got chosen, and since Bombay is what brought us all together… Mojo Bombay.”

The story behind the band deciding to participate in nationwide English music talent hunt NEXA Music is an endearing one. “Our drummer had entered one of our songs in the competition, without the knowledge of any of us,” Mukherjee reveals. “He told us about it only when the shortlist came. It was one of the sweetest surprises the rest four of us got, honestly!” When they heard they’d gotten past the preliminary audition, group decided to go ahead and participate for a chance at a larger platform. “Although a country that thrives on Hindi film music, India does have quite an audience that listens to English music, but that happens to be from out of the country,” says Mukherjee. “Independent Indian artists making English music needed a push, and NEXA has done exactly that, giving us a bigger audience and more recognition.”

Mukherjee adds that the chance to work with celebrated music director A.R. Rahman and producer Clinton Cerejo during the competition was a massive learning experience. “It was just amazing to have met Clinton and A.R. The few sessions that we had with Clinton, when he was re-producing our track, were quite enlightening for us. Frankly we had lived with our composition for quite some time, but the way it sounded with the new arrangement and style, took it to another level.” Mojo Bombay would go on to make it to the Top 24 artists of NEXA Music with their track “Rainy Sunday Morning” and grace the cover of the December 2019 issue of Rolling Stone India with Rahman.

As for what they have planned next, Mukherjee shares there’s so much more they can’t wait to share with their fans. “Lots of songs in the pipeline, hoping to shoot a few videos too. And while the English song writing goes on, hoping to release a few tracks in Hindi too, songs that have come to us naturally while writing.”